Reviews & Recommendations

Powerful - Secret Shame

The personal experience back-stories combined withe solid research is a powerful combination. This book gave me a grid to process my own experience of childhood sexual abuse. The personal stories of other men in this book are touchstones that gave me hope that I wasn't weird or different because I had those experiences. The author references solid research and at the same time, it is written in an approachable way where I understood, in laymen's terms, what I needed to do to recover from my own trauma that I've carried for many years. To even talk about boys being sexually abused has seemed to be taboo in the past as if the boys had welcomed or enjoyed the sexual experience. Many, like me, had no idea what sexual meant over the time that the abuses occurred because we were too young to fully understand.

This book gave me the freedom to pursue my backstory to a depth where my voice of me as an 8 to 9 year-old boy was heard. I was able to share my story with other men who had similar abuse and we all found some healing as we read this together and talked about it. I highly recommend this book to those who have had sexual abuse as a child. I also encourage those who read it to find a community that understands and supports your healing.

- Roscoe Pisor